[OPINION]Five Myths About Digital TransformationIf you want to lead your organization’s technology transition, the first step is graspingthe realities of digital transformations — rather than getting seduced by the hype.

BY STEPHEN J. ANDRIOLE
Many boards of direc- tors and senior management teams
aspire to the efficiencies, innovation, and competitiveness that
digital transformation might
deliver. But in my experience,
the path to transformation —
like most major corporate
initiatives — is a risky one.

I have spent much of my
career overseeing and participating in digital transformations
in both government and private sector settings. Specifically,
I have served as the director of
the Cybernetics Technology
Office of the U.S. Defense
Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA); as CTO and
senior VP of Safeguard Scientifics Inc.; and as CTO and senior
vice president for technology
strategy at Cigna Corp. And I
have observed that in the vast majority of
cases, organizations will make significant
mistakes — unless the transformation is
well-planned, exquisitely executed, and
enthusiastically sponsored by upper
management.

Villanova University — where I nowteach and direct research about digitaltransformation and emerging technolo-gies — collects data about technologyadoption and digital transformationtrends. I’m constantly hearing aboutthe “amazing,” “fabulous,” “terrific,” and“incredible” projects under way with thepotential to “revolutionize” companiesand “disrupt” whole industries. But whenI probe survey respondents for key detailsabout their initiatives, I often find thatthere is still confusion about the process.

To replace this confusion with some clarity, I have distilled my observations and
experiences into five myths about digital
transformation — each of which has a
corresponding reality. If you understand
these myths, you’ll be less likely to fall
prey to the hype about digital transformation and be more aware of how arduous
the process really is.

MYTH #1: Every company
should digitally transform.
REALITY: Not every company, process, or business
model requires digital
transformation.

Digital transformation is not a
software upgrade or a supply
chain improvement project.
It’s a planned digital shock
to what may be a reasonably
functioning system. For
example, to launch a digital
transformation of business
processes, it’s necessary to
purposefully model those processes with tools that enable
creative, empirical simulations. Think, for example,
of the software programs
that enable business process
modeling and business
simulations.

So, as a first step to digi-tally transforming your processes, youneed to honestly assess if your companycan create digital models that simulatethe nuances inherent in its procedures.Simply put, the question is this: Can mycompany model its existing processes?Many companies cannot. That’s nocrime. But that means, in all likelihood,that you cannot easily digitally transformall of those processes.

Remember, too, that the impact of any
initiative is ultimately defined by market
share, revenue, and profit. That means that
some companies — even if they can model